Redmen romp Centaurs, 40-0

Saturday

Oct 12, 2013 at 10:20 PMOct 12, 2013 at 11:47 PM

By Owen Pooleopoole@norwichbulletin.com

WOODSTOCK — Things were already going Killingly’s way when a fumble inside Woodstock Academy’s 5-yard line late in the second quarter bounced into the arms of sophomore linebacker Uriah Alers. He needed only two steps to make it to the end zone and put another touchdown on the board with just over two minutes left in the first half on Saturday.

Killingly scored three touchdowns in a three-minute span late in the second quarter — including two in just over a minute — and snapped a two-game losing streak with a 40-0 win over Woodstock.

The Redmen (3-2) also scored two defensive touchdowns inside the 5-yard line. Troy Waterman returned an interception four yards for a score in the third quarter.

“Those two plays got us a lot of momentum,” Waterman said. “It’s always good to score on defense. They say defense wins championships.”

Centaurs stopped

Killingly held the Centaurs (0-5) to just six first downs and Woodstock ran only two plays inside Killingly’s territory in the first half until a failed fake punt gave the Centaurs the ball at the Redmen 34.

For the game, the Centaurs moved the ball inside the Killingly 20 just twice and ran one play inside the 10.

“The defense really carried us,” Killingly coach Chad Neal said.

“They really stuffed everything. They paid attention in film and to their assignment. We talked about it, putting yourself in a position to be successful and they did. They played a great game.”

Offensively, Michael Elsey ran for a career-high 233 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries in place of Tyler Stucke, who is banged up and carried the ball just once.

Elsey ran for more than 10 yards on four of his first five carries and eight of his carries overall went for double digits.

2-headed monster

Neal envisions using Stucke and Elsey out of the backfield once Stucke gets healthy.

“That’s the goal. We want a two-headed monster, so they can’t just key on one guy,” Neal said.

Killingly scored on its first possession, using a 10-play, 67-yard drive that culminated in Elsey’s 18-yard run for a lead it never gave up.

Devon Moulton’s interception set up Troy Chappell’s 1-yard run that made it, 12-0, and after a Woodstock punt, Elsey scored on a 69-yard run.

Too many mistakes

Three plays later, Alers returned a botched handoff for a score to go up, 26-0.

“Once again, it’s mental mistakes,” Woodstock coach Clay Killingsworth said. “They work hard. They come in before practice and stay late after practice. It’s just not clicking on gameday. We have to figure out a way to get it working.”

The Redmen are beginning to get healthy after suffering through some injuries.

“That’s the key because I think when we’re healthy, we can compete with anybody,” Neal said. “If there’s any silver lining about not being out there, a lot of guys who stepped in have got that experience and make us deeper and down the road. That’s going to help us.”